http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/23/wserbia23.xml
Inconclusive Serbian poll may threaten a solution to Kosovo By Alex Spillius and Alex Todorovic in Belgrade Last Updated: 2:31am GMT 23/01/2007 The EU and America called for the speedy formation of a reformist government in Serbia yesterday after inconclusive elections on Sunday. An ultra-nationalist party emerged as the largest single winner in the poll but failed to gain a majority. The result was a setback to EU and US hopes for a strong Belgrade government to deal with when the future of Kosovo is to be decided in the coming weeks. The Radical party, which won 28 per cent of the vote, says Serbia should declare the province "occupied territory" if a supervised form of independence is granted to the 90 per cent ethnic Albanian majority. But to much relief in the EU, the party's acting leader admitted that they did not have sufficient support to form a coalition. "We won, but we will not be in the government," said Tomislav Nikolic, according to the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti. The party was in a similar position when it came first in 2003. The Radicals, led by the indicted war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj, would like Serbia's borders to embrace ethnic Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia. They would refuse to arrest the former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, who is wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal for genocide. Europe drew comfort from the performance of the most moderate of the major parties, the Democrat Party, which won 23 per cent of the vote. However, the Radical party result underlined the split between ardent nationalists and pro-Europeans. "The majority voted for forces that are democratic and pro-European," said the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The Democrat Party, led by current president Boris Tadic, is expected to lead a coalition with the outgoing prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, of the Democratic Party of Serbia, whose vote fell to about 16 per cent. He made no promises yesterday, and his desire for heavy government representation in exchange for supporting the Democrat Party could delay negotiations. Talks between Serbian and Kosovo authorities are expected to resume once the United Nations envoy to the province, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, has presented his proposals for its future status later this week. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
